Weekend Youth Box Lacrosse Tournament Cancelled To Allow Hotel Availability For Emergency Workers

The 2022 Laker Classic youth box lacrosse tournament scheduled for this Saturday has been cancelled due to the ongoing emergency situation from last week’s windstorm.

File Photo.

The City’s Emergency Control Group discovered yesterday that roughly 600 out-of-town electrical utility workers who are in Peterborough to assist with power restoration risked losing their hotel rooms due to lack of available rooms.

Room availability coordination for hotel rooms were not made according to a press release. Not enough rooms were available for the electrical utility workers aiding the emergency response efforts.

Cancelling the tournament aids in easing the pressure on hotel room availability. The tournament would use the Peterborough Memorial Centre, Kinsmen Civic Centre and Healthy Planet Arena.

The City has issued the following statement regarding the cancellation of the tournament:

“The City regrets both having to cancel the use of the facilities for this event as well as the timing of the decision. Restoring power to all residents and businesses remains a priority following the devastating storm on May 21, 2022.”

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Peterborough Speedway Moves Opening Day to This Saturday

“Pivot” has been a theme for the Peterborough Speedway as its opening day has been moved to Saturday.

The Speedway was previously having their opening day last Saturday. Photo courtesy of Peterborough Speedway.

The speedway was set to run last weekend but held off due to the massive windstorm after being surveyed by speedway staff.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a storm like that before,” said J.P. Josiasse, speedway owner. “The sky got dark and then the wind picked-up. After that, all we could do was watch things develop and wonder when it was going to stop and how much damage there would be.” 

The grounds had to be cleaned up before being able to be open to the public according to Josiasse.

“Even with the amount of damage that the storm caused, we have to look at things in a positive light,” he said. “With free grandstand admission, opening night is always one of the most popular events on our schedule. We were about an hour away from opening the spectator gates and the place would have been filled with fans. We’re very fortunate that no one was injured.” 

Opening Day will feature free spectator admission and racing with a 50-lap main event for the Jiffy Lube Mini Stocks, plus the hometown Battlefield Equipment Rental Bone Stock, Trent Lakes Complete Plumbing Renegade Truck and KOD Disposal Super Stock divisions.

The day also marks the season opener for the GEN-3 Electrical Ontario Modifieds Racing Series and the debut of the Junior Late Model class.

Pit gates will open at 1:30 p.m. with the spectator grandstands unlocked at 3 p.m. with race time at 5 p.m. 

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Major Series Lacrosse Postpones 2022 Season

The Century 21 Peterborough Lakers will have to wait a little longer to hit the floor as Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) has been postponed for the 2022 season announced by the league on Thursday.

File Photo.

The following was a statement released by Doug Luey, MSL Commissioner:

It is with tremendous disappointment that Major Series Lacrosse must postpone the start of the 2022 season. The financial risk brought on by potential litigation is just too great to overcome by both our privately and community operated teams.

We will continue to work towards a resolution to bring our teams, players, officials and in particular our fans back to the floor as soon as the risk is minimized.

Our teams were looking forward to building on last year's extremely successful MSL Classic. This tournament resulted in a broadcast deal that would have shown every MSL game through the 2022 Mann Cup across Canada, in addition to most games being shown via webcast. It also yielded a national sponsorship deal.

In both cases, we are unable to make those announcements until a resolution is made. MSL will not be issuing any further comment on the matter until all stakeholders have come to a satisfactory resolution. We want to thank all that have reached out and offered their support during these difficult times. We can't wait to hit the floor.

The Lakers are three-time defending Mann Cup champions and are seeking a fourth consecutive championship.

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Peterborough Parks and Trails Closed From Windstorm Until Further Notice

All City of Peterborough parks and trails are closed until condition assessments can be done from fallen trees from the Saturday windstorm announced Thursday.

There have been almost 12,100 requests for service through the City of Peterborough Public Works since the storm on Saturday. Photo courtesy of the City of Peterborough.

The following parks/fields are open for usage and permitted activities:

• Baseball diamonds – Bowers Park, Brinton Carpet, Bonnerworth North and South, Fairbairn/Poplar, Kinsmen, Milroy, Northland, Stacey Green and Turner

• Sports fields – Eastgate Hogan, Eastgate Mark Forrester, Milroy and Kinsmen

• Bonnerworth skatepark

• Simcoe and Bethune basketball courts

The City has urged everyone to respect park closures and to stay away from trees, on public and private property until the condition of the trees can be assessed and any necessary remediation work is completed as trees and limbs have continued to fall.

As incoming inclement weather approaches with higher winds, a tree that may appear to be safe could have structural damage that poses a risk.

Inspections have begun in City parks and trails. Nicholls Oval, Jackson Park and Sherbrooke Woods have sustained substantial damage to treed areas.

Parks that are re-opened following assessments will be posted at peterborough.ca/stormresponse as they are re-opened or residents can call 705-742-7777 ext. 0 for an update.

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Peterborough Lacrosse Makes Another Stamp In Its 150th Anniversary With Commemorative Beer

Peterborough’s 150th lacrosse anniversary continues its milestone celebrations with the “150” beer made by Publican House Brewery in a collaboration announced on Thursday.

Marty Laskaris, Publican House president and co-founder (left) and Tim Barrie, Lakers hall-of-fame goaltender (right) shared the ‘150’ lager for the first time on the beer’s launch. Lacrosse began on a cricket field in East City in 1872. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The beer came as an idea from a lunch between Marty Laskaris, Publican House president and co-founder and Tim Barrie, Lakers hall-of-fame goaltender and journalist Ed Arnold.

"We can make a beer, 150-anniversary beer that can help with events in the summer and we can do some other things with the proceeds and we'd love to be a part of that,” said Laskaris. "The whole thing came together after that."

A portion of the beer sales benefits minor lacrosse associations in the Peterborough area. The beer remains on the brewery’s menu as long as it maintains its sales.

"If you read Ed Arnold's book, the book is primarily about 1974 undefeated team but it took 10 years to build that team," said Barrie. "It's something no other community had was a minor system like Peterborough had where we basically lived and breathed lacrosse all summer and it was a sport we loved and we just wanted to play. The foundations of the game are so important."

The beer is a four per cent lager that best represents the undefeated season of the 1974 Peterborough PCOs that went 46-0 according to Laskaris.

"The team that went all the way in '74, undefeated, very smooth, very light on their feet, very fast so I thought this light lager is going to come together with the theme of the team back then," he said.

The beer is available at Publican House’s beer store beside its restaurant. Copies of Arnold’s book, ‘Peterborough’s Perfect Season: With Benny and his Jets’ is also available for purchase.

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Hometown PTBO: Ennismore's Carter Frost On Being Drafted to the Peterborough Petes as a Goaltender

This week on Hometown PTBO, Pete Dalliday talks with Peterborough Petes goalie Carter Frost on being drafted in the 15th and final round of the 2022 Ontario Hockey League priority selection and growing up in Ennismore.

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Victoria Park Closed To Public Until Further Notice As Fallen Trees And Branches Are Removed

Due to the severe storm from Saturday Victoria Park will be closed to the general public until further notice, Peterborough County announced on Wednesday.

File Photo.

“Safety of visitors to the park is our priority”, said J. Murray Jones. “Once Victoria Park is cleaned up and staff feel it is safe to re-open, we will advise. Thanks in advance for your patience while this work happens.”

Many trees and large branches fell during the storm on Saturday and staff are busy cleaning them up.

While clearing the fallen limbs and trees, staff will also be looking for compromised trees that may have been weakened by the storm, and identifying broken branches, that are caught within the trees and removing them.

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Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre Urgently Seeking Volunteer Drivers

The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre is seeking volunteer drivers to be turtle taxis, transporting injured turtles from around the province to the clinic announced Wednesday.

File Photo.

Drivers would carry turtles after meeting with other taxis and transport them in roughly 60 to 90-minute interval trips to their destination.

The Centre is the only accredited turtle hospital in the province.

"They (turtles) come in from all over Ontario, we have 1,500 turtles that come in per year approximately," said Dr. Sue Carstairs, Conservation Centre executive and medical director.

Anyone can register to be a volunteer or get more information by emailing volunteer@ontarioturtle.ca.

If you see an injured turtle in Ontario, you can contact the centre to get it transported from one of 900 volunteer drivers across the province or bring it in yourself.

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Fans Invited to Design a Game Jersey Contest For the Peterborough Petes

The Peterborough Petes have returned their #YourTeamYourJersey contest, allowing any fan to enter a custom jersey design for a home game during the 2022-23 regular season announced Wednesday.

Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Petes.

The Petes teamed with Real Canadian Superstore and the Ontario Hockey League for the contest.

The winning designer receives one of the jerseys they designed, autographed by the entire Petes team.

To enter the contest, entrants visit this website, and follow the steps:

1. Download and save the jersey template and design your custom Petes jersey

2. Upload the design with contact information and design details before June 13

Fan votes are taking place in September for the winning design as a new feature this season. Designs can behand-drawn or digital but must be submitted online.

Game-worn jerseys will be auctioned in support of the President’s Choice Children’s Charity.

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NDP's Andrea Horwath Hits Peterborough Days After Massive Windstorm Strikes Town

New Democratic Party (NDP) provincial leader Andrea Horwath stopped in Peterborough to witness the damage from Saturday’s massive windstorm on Wednesday afternoon.

NDP Provincial Leader Andrea Horwath (left), Mayor Diane Therrien (middle) and Peterborough-Kawartha riding candidate Jen Deck at the Lions Club where several large trees were uprooted from Saturday’s windstorm. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Horwath came at Mayor Diane Therrien’s request shortly after the storm hit the area. It was the first day Horwath went back on tour from isolation since she tested positive for COVID-19 last Thursday.

“It's shocking to see the impact of the storm,” said Horwath. “One minute, everything was a normal Saturday afternoon and then within a matter of minutes, complete havoc rained through the community and that's a scary thing. Seeing it physically makes me feel a lot of concern for people who actually went through it."

“There's a lot of devastation," said Therrien. “We still have a lot of residents without power and a lot of folks who are really struggling. We worry about seniors that are isolated and some of the folks in some of the high-rise buildings with accessibility issues are certainly a concern so the City's been doing everything they can.”

Therrien, Horwath and Peterborough-Kawartha riding candidate Jen Deck walked around the East City area and discussed issues that needed to be addressed as a result of the storm’s damage.

“I think these kinds of incidents reinforce the imperative that we have to deal with the climate emergency," said Horwath. “Our plan, the Green New Democratic Deal is one that is very proactive that will bring our greenhouse gas emissions down by 50 percent by 2030 and have a carbon-neutral economy by 2050."

Horwath was critical of the province’s disaster response system.

"The disaster response system in Ontario has never really functioned very well so people end up waiting sometimes years for any kind of financial assistance and that's not just good enough," explained Horwath. "We need to be getting financial assistance into people's pockets as quickly as possible, our plan calls for a 30-day maximum in terms of having to wait."

@ptbo_canada #PTBOCanada resident caught Saturdays #ONStorm from their apartment building. Transformers & Hydro lines down all over the city🤳: Nevil Patel #Derecho #Weather #Transformer ♬ Stan by Eminem - vanessa

Therrien called a state of emergency for Peterborough earlier that morning after submitting the declaration to the province yesterday.

"The state of emergency helps the municipality by giving us a little bit more flexibility to work around the normal government process,” said Therrien. “Government doesn't always work the fastest so being able to call in different partners rather than go through a procurement process, just to be able to say we need this kind of equipment, we need this kind of people and volunteers now. It just gives us the ability to be more nimble in our decision making."

Therrien could not offer a timeline of when the state of emergency will be lifted.

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